CD BioSciences is committed to providing our customers with a wide range of advanced biophysical techniques to help them analyze the hygromechanical behavior of the S2 cell wall layer of wood. Our dedicated research team will provide you with the necessary technical support to study the swelling/shrinkage anisotropy of wood cell wall material.

Background

As a hygroscopic material, wood can respond to changes in environmental humidity by changing its geometry, i.e. the cellular structure of the wood swells during wetting and shrinks during drying. The hierarchical microstructure of wood results in anisotropic mechanical and swelling behavior across multiple scales. Although moisture-induced deformation originates at the subcellular scale, explanations for the anisotropic nature of wood swelling/shrinkage can be found at the cell wall scale and at the cellular architecture levels.

In situ analyses of wood swelling and shrinkage have been carried out at the cellular level by techniques such as microscopy and microcomputer X-ray tomography. However, little is known so far about the swelling/shrinkage properties of wood cell walls. It has been suggested that the S2 layer within the cell wall makes a major contribution to the swelling/shrinking behavior, particularly in the transverse plane of the wood. It is therefore necessary to study the swelling behavior of the S2 cell wall layer in wood, which seems to be a key factor in the anisotropic swelling behavior of wood at a higher level.

Fig.1 Comparing the anisotropic swelling of wood at three hierarchical levels. (Rafsanjani, 2014)

Our Services

We offer high-resolution microscopy, nano X-ray tomography and advanced modeling techniques to help our customers analyze the hygromechanical behavior of the S2 cell wall layer of wood. The services we offer include but are not limited to:

• We provide synchrotron radiation-based phase contrast X-ray tomography nanoscopy to record the hygroscopic swelling and shrinkage of the S2 cell wall layer in response to changes in ambient humidity, and quantify the affine strains during swelling and shrinkage from the high-resolution images obtained.
• We provide atomic modeling (molecular dynamics and grand canonical Monte Carlo) to reveal the hygromechanical and hysteretic behavior of wood S2 cell wall layers at the atomic scale, providing key information for studying correlations between moisture content, swelling, porosity changes with the number and location of water–polymer hydrogen bonds within the system.
• We provide 3D experimental studies of the hygromechanical behavior of wood at the cellular and sub-cellular scales to explain the anisotropic and reversible swelling behavior of wood from a mechanical perspective.

Applications

• Study on shape memory effect.
• Research on other moisture-related mechanisms of wood, such as hysteresis behavior.
• Provide ideas for the development of new functional nanomaterials, coatings and nanomaterial composites.

With our experienced research team, CD BioSciences offers our customers a variety of strategies to study the swelling/shrinkage anisotropy of wood cell wall material, offering the possibility to translate this anisotropy to higher levels of hierarchy. If you are interested in our services, please contact us for more information.

Reference

1. Rafsanjani, A.; et al. Hygroscopic swelling and shrinkage of latewood cell wall micropillars reveal ultrastructural anisotropy. Journal of the Royal society interface. 2014, 11(95): 20140126.

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